Mission Could Seek Out Spock's Home Planet

An anonymous reader wrote with a link to the official Planet Quest site. Planet Quest has the goal of exploring the galaxy via sophisticated instrumentation for another habitable planet. NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is working to plan out missions for the project, and researchers are now theorizing that the instruments may be able to explore the system of 40 Eridani. Hardcore Trek fans may know 40 Eridani as the star associated with the planet Vulcan. "The SIM PlanetQuest instrument will be so accurate, it could measure the thickness of a nickel at a distance from Earth to the moon. Using a set of mathematical models based on Newton's Laws, Tanner was able to conclude that SIM would be able to definitively determine whether there is an Earth-mass planet orbiting in the habitable zone around 40 Eridani A, and could also determine its orbit. This is quite an exciting prospect, since NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission, planned for launch after SIM, would not only be able to take a rudimentary 'picture' of the planet, but also could search for signatures of life such as methane and ozone."

Comments

*eyebrow raise*

[Anonymous Coward]

fascinating...

Space. The final frontier.

[LiquidCoooled]

Space. The final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Doogan.
Her five year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisation.
To boldly go where no man has gone before.

You can just picture the comm message as Scotty tells the captain they won't leave earth orbit and will have to search for spock in New Mexico.

Methane and ozone, huh

[eln]

but also could search for signatures of life such as methane and ozone

So we're only interested in flatulent life, then.

Re:Methane and ozone, huh

[Reader X]

Is there any other kind?

Re:Methane and ozone, huh

[illegalcortex]

Can you imagine dealing with a life form that doesn't fart. I mean, it's embarrassing enough when one of the inmates makes a back door break-out with other humans around. But at least then you have the fall-back of knowing they've probably done it before, too.

Re:Methane and ozone, huh

[Drooling Iguana]

The trick is to convince the non-farting aliens that farts are a sign of great social standing and virility. Make 'em feel inadequate due to their lack of this ability.

Re:Methane and ozone, huh

[hamburger lady]

or, "nobody poops but you".

or the catholic version, "You're a Naughty Child and that's Concentrated Evil Coming Out of the Back of You"

Re:Methane and ozone, huh

[Jenga717]

Maybe you should focus a little closer to home first. Here, I'll even help you:

"The trick is to convince the [females] that farts are a sign of great social standing and virility. Make 'em feel inadequate due to their lack of [being able to control your] ability."

We women already feel inadequate at being able to control the horrendous things that come out of the average man (from any hole). The only thing left to do is convince us that the copious amounts of gas seeping (or exploding) from your goatse-hole, directly correlates to how powerful and man-ly (thus desirable) you are. Should be...easy... :-)

Only eggheads would look for Vulcan...

[__aaclcg7560]

You would think that Borg technology on the other side of the galaxy would be a lot more interesting than a group of alien philosophers contemplating lint in their belly buttons. :P

Please cancel the mission

[Anonymous Coward]

If we discover the Vulcans before the warp drive then our timeline will be wrong.

Re:Please cancel the mission

[Blob Pet]

Not to worry, we'll just label this mission as non-canon. Obviously Rick Berman had some hand in its creation.

Re:Please cancel the mission

[El_Oscuro]

My timeline got screwed up when I found the long lost "Restraunt at the End of the Universive" game in a close out bin at Egghead during the Win95 launch, after Microsoft had merged with Sirus Cybernetics Corporation. The game cost $9.99, along with $10 for some good British ale, leaving me with 1 penny in my Beezer bank account.

After leaving Egghead, I noticed the sky was....

Drinking 3 beers and waiting for the end, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A spaceship. Except, it looked more like a restraunt than a spaceship. Everyone else, was ignoring the spaceship. Just running around it, pretending it wasn't there.

Slartbartfast came out of the ship, and said "Arthur Dent, we have been waiting 11 years for you to get the game. We need your help. The Restruant at the End of the Universe forgot to patch their time servers with the DST patch. As it turned out, one of the End of the Universe time-shifts occured during the DST switchover. Thus, The Restruant is exactly one hour in the future, after The End. With The Restruant after the End, then entire space-time continuim of the universe is unraveling. Our only hope is if you can find the patch, get to the Restruant, and apply it."

You get into the ship and take off, the powerful Bistromathics drive getting you to Magrathea in seconds. You attempt to download the patch from the Sub-Etha-Net using your Guides newfangled "Sub-Etha-Net Explorer", but all it tells you is

This page cannot be displayed

There is an icon which looks like a paperclip on a piece of paper. It is winking at you...

Same thing different Star System

[dcray2000]

We'll probably see a Vulcan in a skyscraper with a telescope looking back at us.

meh

[game kid]

I'm hoping for CETI 5.0 (alpha) personally.

Re:meh

[croddy]

No! On CETI Alpha 5 there was life! A fair chance!

Slashunits!

[Anonymous Coward]

The SIM PlanetQuest instrument will be so accurate, it could measure the thickness of a nickel at a distance from Earth to the moon.

Yes, but how many football fields away can it measure the width of the Library of Congress from?

Re:Slashunits!

[ChameleonDave]

I'm wondering where you're from that you think you'll probably never see an american nickel. I just haven't seen one in my 28 years, and don't see that changing.

No, they are talking about a Vulcan nickel of course, which is EXACTLY 1/8 inch thick, because that is the only logical measure of length. Well, then I approve whole-heartedly!

Re:Space. The final frontier.

[mcrbids]

Yes I make mistakes. Don't we all?

Don't many of us owe our very existence to mistakes that our parents made?

Re:Space. The final frontier.

[eclectro]

Her five year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisation.

Using today's technology, 1,000,000 year mission (roundtrip).

If you don't run out of food.

Re:Why do we have to have Spock?

[mrhifibanjostrings]

You obviously underestimate the number of people who flip open their Razr phones like tricorders and make the "shhhhh" sound when they automatic doors open for them. Anything is cooler when you integrate Star Trek into it.

Re:Calm yourselves.

[Farmer Tim]

STAR TREK ISN'T REAL.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...oh, wait, wrong franchise.

eh

[djupedal]

"The SIM PlanetQuest instrument will be so accurate, it could measure the thickness of a nickel at a distance from Earth to the moon."

Last I heard the boys still had issues dealing w/simple math. It might be best to hold off on such parlor triks as this until the tutors come back with a reasonable report...

Re:eh

[Scaba]

Why wait. I'm thinking it might be a lot easier to just measure the nickel right here on Earth. In fact, you don't even need to measure it, as someone has done it for us

Re:lol

[Anonymous Coward]

Star Trek nerds, lol. Your hobby is the cause of your virginity.

Neither my wife or I are virgins.

Re:Finally! An end to the controversy!

[skoaldipper]

If it's not a hoax, then tell me why after all those moon missions not one single astronaut brought back one single slice of cheese?

Re:Fictional

[MLease]

Where's the "-1, Wet Blanket" mod option?!?

-Mike

Oh, great, more units

[Dirtside]

it could measure the thickness of a nickel at a distance from Earth to the moon

Oh, great, another metric unit we have to memorize: Moon-Earth distance nickel thicknesses. How many Libraries of Congress is that?